​Researchers are beginning to study myeloma patients individually and match up treatments with their type of myeloma. Learn more about this study with Dr. Cole and the MMRF. This is an observational trial.

Each year 22,000 people die from prescription opioid overdoses. But behind every statistic is a face, a person, and a story. Don’t become one of them. Protect yourself and get a Warn Me Label for your insurance card.

To the point and accurate NSC 3:00 minute video clip regarding the need to actually face all of the individuals affected by the opioid crisis including the patient, patient's family and the prescribers. NSC has developed a sticker to be placed on he patient's insurance card that asks the prescriber to warn the patient, "Warn Me Label."

We must know the consequences beforehand. A "Warn Me Label" is good; but, the addition of apharmacogenetic test beforehand, will help a prescriber predict if the drug and dose will be helpful or harmful to you. This is part of the great utility with pharmacogenetic (PGx) testing.

The vast number of combinations and permutations underlying genetics makes uncertainty part of the equation, and frankly, different people having different genes is what makes society interesting. .....every treatment is a balance of risk-to-benefit (part of swinging this balance much more favorably to the 'benefit' side is the promise of precision and personalized medicine).

An adverse drug reaction (ADR) occurs when a medication has an unexpected, unwanted, and harmful effect on the patient, even when the medication has been prescribed and taken correctly — based on standardized guidelines. While some adverse drug reactions are caused by drug-drug interactions or allergic responses, the majority of reactions appear to be caused by genetic factors. And while normal genetic variation can cause an ADR in some patients, it can result in a medication having no effect in others.When precision medicine fully replaces conventional medicine and its familiar tendency towards crisis management, no two individuals will be treated the same even when their diagnoses are identical.

​There is great promise in the potential of genetic information to help inform clinicians’ decisions of which medications to prescribe. Researchers have come to believe that genetic variation may contribute to the risk/benefit ratio each drug has, and though the contribution needs to be better understood, current pharmacogenetic testing methods are robust enough to make a difference today.

A comparison chart (Christensen Institute) of the progression of and differences between intuitive, empirical, and precision medicine.​The Clayton Christensen Institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank dedicated to improving the world through disruptive innovation. Founded on the theories of Harvard professor Clayton Christensen, the Institute offers a unique framework for understanding many of society’s most pressing issues around education, healthcare, and economic prosperity.​